TRPG General Chat

12:47 AM

About to stream our D&D 5e actual-play podcast in a little over 3 hours: https://www.twitch.tv/events/By5HvHyGQSewFw7kY2wBQQ

In a universe adjacent to our own lies a world known as Runia. This world, once peaceful and idyllic, is now threatened by a monstrous being from its prehistory. A group of adventurers known as Whiskey Company have risen up to do what they can to fight this entity known only as Nagat. They have trekked far across the mortal realms in search of the shards of Barrinoth, the Titan of Justice, in hopes of returning him to his full power.

Hot RPG Questions

1:25 AM

4

Q: Does a surprised creature obey the 1st level spell Command?

I'll post the relevant text below: Command: You speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn...If the target can't follow your command, the spell ends. Surprise: If you're surp...

Shalvenay

1:36 AM

hey there @nitsua60

KorvinStarmast

2:02 AM

@V2Blast looks like doppel dropped in to lay some education down.

@kviiri Vicky started an edit war with Seven. We have a meta on that. Some people really get cranky when someone edits their work.

@BESW That joke was making the rounds in Boy Scout camps in the 1970's with the topic being prisoners who had one joke book in the prison library. Still a good joke, no matter the baseline.

@BESW I read the first book, liked it, but could not tolerate the second. So I binned it. My brother heard the whole thing on radio. Utterly different experience of the same fiction. It was originally written for radio.

BESW

Douglas was much better at writing scripts, both for radio and television, which would be developed and delivered by others. See again: Doctor Who.

KorvinStarmast

Yeah, his ear for dialogue was first rate. two thumbs up

BESW

2:22 AM

Still nearly existential in his philosophies though, which made him a grimly self-conscious satirist.

user15026

2:38 AM

I never understood the draw of Hitchhiker's Guide, and I already espoused my lack of real appreciation for Monty Python - those were two things where I was like "am I really that NAT that I don't get whatever makes that funny" but I guess I am not so bad off!

trogdor

Lol

I saw the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and liked it but when I tried to read the book I just couldn't

And I enjoy some amount of Money Python

I feel they are at thier best when they aren't milking something for too long though

Which they admittedly tend to do

And I think there is a sweet spot they hit sometimes that's really funny but not ridiculously offensive, but of course that does come with the ridiculously offensive Stuff too

It's a mixed bag for me

I probably only like it at all because I rebel in absurdity in humor

Otherwise watching people sing a cheerey song while sitting currently being crucified by the Roman government for petty theft probably wouldn't be nearly as amusing

user15026

3:01 AM

I struggle with absurdity as a thing? Whimsy, I can do but outright absurdity not so much

trogdor

That's fair enough

user15026

(which confuses people because of my constant use of metaphor but to me that's just making pictures but I know sometimes that's hard for people to map to real stuff especially emotions)

trogdor

Unfortunately it's often coupled with less desirable/ neutral things

Joshua

I'm looking for a creature of CR 9 or lower that can survive a few minutes vacuum and radiation exposure.

Shalvenay

@Joshua what's the CR of a tardigrade again? :P

(or if you're looking for something more "out there", a Fedo, haha :P)

Joshua

3:04 AM

tardigrade is not in the table.

trogdor

@Joshua what edition?

Joshua

I'm looking at the 5E main table

I've cooked up a scheme for a horrible horrible doomsday device.

trogdor

I think if you grab an Earth elemental or something that would do it

Joshua

Oh yeah huh. I forgot the elementals were low CR.

trogdor

They don't need to breathe, and I would assume a bit of radiation would not bother them

And earth makes the most sense,... In that particular set of circumstances

A lack of air would probably do nasty things to air or fire elementals and I'm not sure what a total lack of pressure would do to a water elemental

Shalvenay

3:09 AM

@trogdor freeze dried water elemental :P

Joshua

lol

trogdor

@Shalvenay I figured that was one thing at least

And I'm certainly not saying the poor creature is gonna be happy under those conditions but it should physically survive it

Joshua

I'm planning on "stealing" a neutron star.

Shalvenay

@Joshua earth elemental vs. magnetar? :P

Joshua

No. TP neutron star -> earth elemental so I can move it with a teleport spell.

By the way, as long as I have the earth elemental with me, anti-magic field is not your friend.

Shalvenay

3:22 AM

@Joshua no kidding

"I'll just anti-magic field all the things, so NOBODY can cause trouble, muhahaha!"

kaboom

"...you were saying?"

Joshua

Although that last line would be in the afterlife because this is going to be a really quick death.

Shalvenay

XD

Joshua

One of these days I should go ahead and publish the Tome of Star Flight on pastebin

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast cool beans

@Ash Personally I loved both, or at least parts of both. The later H2G2 books were certainly not as good as the first, but I really enjoyed the absurdity of the first. And as for Monty Python, I don't think every sketch is amazing, but there are some I really love, and Holy Grail in general is quite solid

Monty Python's Life of Brian is another entertaining one

trogdor

I think I like Life of Brian best

Especially the jokes about the Romans

The Romans were as I understand it, actually worth making fun of in that way

Some of,... The other stuff is still funny but there are definite problems with it

I mean, like I said before, I already made an example, I can't say I don't find the ending scene where they are singing a cheery song unfunny, but I'm also still ashamed to laugh at it because, yikes

linksassin

3:41 AM

TBH I'm not a Monty Python fan, my wife and a lot of my friends love it but I could never get into it. I find too many of the jokes obvious or not that funny. There are some truly great jokes but they are too few and far between to enjoy the whole thing.

trogdor

Yeah I mean I can't Blame you

Shalvenay

3:57 AM

hey there @user10789002, welcome to the RPG.SE lair :)

V2Blast

Planeslip stream starting momentarily
https://www.twitch.tv/bigdredwun

BESW

4:23 AM

Urgh I had a brilliant breakthrough on my story-based RPG system while I was driving and now I can't remember it.

trogdor

Oh no

BESW

I wanted to reduce the randomization element so that the choice about what you learn from a story is more narrative-driven.

trogdor

The driving brain goblins strike a new target

I can't even begin to number the amount of times I had an idea and it just poofed while I was driving

Also while sleeping,

In fact nowadays I rarely remember my dreams

Stackstuck

dang, Google failed me. I was trying to look up a joke in the family of "jokes get simplified to numbers" that had a twist to it, in response to some of the earlier conversation...

It wasn't there.

linksassin

4:46 AM

@BESW I've often wondered about the value of a narration device for when I am driving for just this situation.

Though I usually use my driving time for NPC voice acting practice.

kviiri

7:11 AM

God dag

@V2Blast Yeah, I think the films are way better, probably in large part because they were crafted for an international audience while the Flying Circus relies heavily on contemporary British culture

Also, Graham Chapman was awfully good at being the "straight face" of each film and building the two stories around characters he portrayed was a good move.

kviiri

10:06 AM

22

Q: How to handle DM constantly stealing everything from sleeping characters?

In past campaigns, the DM has had a habit of stealing from our characters while they sleep impulsively without any sort of story reason. And not just regular stealing either, they manage to remove all our items, including worn such as clothes and armor. All based on beating our listen check minus...

dnd-3.5e stealth problem-gm

^ funnily enough, I recall trying a Mud once where that was a gameplay feature.

Someone_Evil

10:58 AM

@kviiri What is 'Mud' in this context?

doppelgreener

MUD

A MUD (; originally Multi-User Dungeon, with later variants Multi-User Dimension and Multi-User Domain) is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat. Players can read or view descriptions of rooms, objects, other players, non-player characters, and actions performed in the virtual world. Players typically interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a natural language. Traditional MUDs implement a role-playing video game set in a fantasy...

kviiri

^ yes that

Basically I had a brief phase where I explored some of them --- didn't like any much, except BatMud for a while but even that was really hard to get in to and the gameplay was too grindy.

The problems weren't with the text based gameplay or the UI in particular --- I'm quite used to that stuff --- but the general culture seemed to be too much in favor of obscure, not open, mechanics

Hot RPG Questions

11:20 AM

16

Q: Can a surprised creature fall prone voluntarily on their turn?

Suppose someone might want their character to drop prone while they're surprised. The relevant text from Being Prone under "Movement and Position" states: You can drop prone without using any of your speed. (Notably this means that any effect which drops your speed to 0 does not prevent you...

dnd-5e conditions surprise prone

KorvinStarmast

12:07 PM

@Ash They are both an acquired taste that, during the 80's, appealed to a great many in the geek/nerd community. A funny radio show that preceded MOnty Python and was also zany/funny was The Goon Show. You may find that easier to relate to.

@kviiri Yes, grindy is a feature of MUDS ... and dungeon crawls in general.

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast Hm, not quite. I've definitely played dungeon crawl -style games that I wouldn't describe as grindy

KorvinStarmast

Really? OK, we may have a different inernal sense of "grindy" there ...

kviiri

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is one of my long term favorites and it has avoiding grind as one of its stated design goals, even :)

KorvinStarmast

OK, is that a fairly new game? (I think I've seen reference to it here in chat before ...)

Someone_Evil

Based on version version numbers I would say fairly new. Does 'future' count as new?

kviiri

12:17 PM

@KorvinStarmast Not really --- I think it's original design is from 1990's or something

Linley's Dungeon Crawl was its original name (Linley Henzell being the developer).

@Someone_Evil Trust not the version numbers

KorvinStarmast

OH no, it is something I could end up playing on my phone. *backs away cautiously.

Someone_Evil

Oh, right we're in the weird suave of games where projects started in 2002 and still is on 0.23.X...

kviiri

@Someone_Evil Version numbers don't really mean anything. It's all about what convention they use

Someone_Evil

though broadly starting with a 0. means "not complete yet"

kviiri

I can't recall the exact specifics why DCSS's earlier versions chose to start with 0.X, but at this point it'd feel kinda silly to call the game "release-worthy" (1.0) at any particular point since it's been a well-finished game for a very long time and just keeps getting iterative refinement

@Someone_Evil In the sense it's undergoing iterative development, it isn't :)

Anaphory

12:23 PM

@Someone_Evil Or “We are not long-term committing to this set of features yet”, at least.

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast Anyway Crawl was at some point adopted by the open source community and got an unusually refined design document for a roguelike. I'd characterize it as a "neo-classical" roguelike: it stays quite true to the traditions of permadeath, fantasy, dungeon-crawling, and fiendish difficulty, while eschewing the "open world adventure" stuff of games like ADOM or Omega as well as the trivia mastery elements and "jerk GM" aspects of NetHack

It's a good game, I recommend giving it a shot or ten :)

Anaphory

So do I! If I had minimally more time, this thread would have got me to playing right now. (Maybe one dungeon level? One level can't hurt, right??)

kviiri

@Anaphory Crawl was pretty much the only video game I had time for during my freshman year at the univ and I quite often fell into the trap that I'd start "just one game" to take a break from my programming stuff. And those were usually my best games.

I wonder if Crawl accesses the system memory to see if I have an IDE or Texmaker running and subtly tweaks RNG rolls in my favor if so

Sep 5 '18 at 7:53, by kviiri

It's like NetHack in the sense that the entire game is set in one big, branching dungeon, but unlike NetHack, Crawl does its best not to necessitate spoilers or "gotchas" as a form of system mastery. Eg. the game flat out tells you that kobold corpses are not edible, that moving while confused near lava can get you killed, etc.

Oh, I was on a roll talking about roguelikes that day!

Carcer

Crawl has also evolved a LOT, over time

kviiri

Yeah

Carcer

12:34 PM

they are not afraid to experiment, add lots of new things and entirely remove or simplify mechanics

Rubiksmoose

Good morning internet friends

Carcer

good morning moose

Anaphory

@Carcer That's the freedom you get for version 0.x

kviiri

One of my favorite changes in the few last versions is the spellbook thing. You can only learn spells from spellbooks, usually, so if you want to use magic you usually will pick up lots of them whenever you can. But since you only need them to learn spells, it was quite popular to drop the books somewhere and do repeated trips there to get new spells whenever your levels were high enough :)

However, it wasn't terribly fun to balance between using one's limited inventory slots for storing books and spending some few dozen turns fast traveling to one's spell book stash, so nowadays spell books are, when picked up, just added to one's abstract "spell library"

KorvinStarmast

@Kviiri Diablo (the original) did that about 22 years ago. The player picks up a book with a spell, and that action addes the spell to ones the player can cast. Or it adds to the power level of the spell if it's the second time ...

Rubiksmoose

12:41 PM

how is everyone today?

KorvinStarmast

Ok, dear Moose, and thee?

BESW

Got really excited planning a birthday thing, then found out a friend's dad died and that's the day of the funeral.

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast Pretty good on the whole. thanks for asking :) Decent sleep, ok weather and I get to introduce my group to Honey Heist tonight.

kviiri

@Rubiksmoose Feelings slightly concerned about some political developments, otherwise quite ok

@KorvinStarmast Could you stack them indefinitely?

Rubiksmoose

@BESW oh... well that's awful. :(

kviiri

12:44 PM

@BESW Oh my, condolences for that :(

BESW

@Rubiksmoose Yeeeah. The birthday thing's still on, it's not the kind of thing where I'm going to the funeral, but...

(We're not ika friends.)

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast Another dungeon crawly game that doesn't have much of a grind is Slay the Spire, which is also a deck-building game. You fight monsters and win cards that represent different kinds of combat techniques

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri You could stack them up to about 15 if you had a really high Int score. Int score was the limit on how high you could stack a given spell.

See Jarulf's Guide 1.62 for details.

@kviiri Is that on line or a board game?

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast Offline video game (there's no multiplayer mode)

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri OK, CRPG?

kviiri

12:48 PM

Or well, there is, but it's a "daily sprint" kinda deal where you compete for high scores

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri Causing concern is pretty much what political developments are made for these days it seems :(

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast For small values of RPG, yes :)

KorvinStarmast

Speaking of on line, Hearthstone is about to open a new single player season, and I am getting psyched for it. My son and I like to compare notes on how to figure out some of the trickier challenges...

kviiri

It uses many dungeon crawl tropes but has very little and subtle worldbuilding

KorvinStarmast

Of course, it opens tonight and I am very occupied getting ready for other stuff so I can't play until this weekend.

Derpy

12:49 PM

@KorvinStarmast didn't you had to USE the book?

I kinda remember you actually had to use it after picking it up.

KorvinStarmast

@Derpy No, you picked up, and either sold it, or read it. I guess you had to "activate" it. You used scrolls.

Rubiksmoose

@BESW :( Well it certainly sounds like an unfortunate turn for your day (and theirs) to take regardless.

KorvinStarmast

Infravision was, IIRC, only on scrolls.

kviiri

@Rubiksmoose If you want I can drop a short and respectful summary in Not a Bar

Derpy

@KorvinStarmast ok. I meant that you had to use it in a way - by activating/using/clicking/eating it :P. It wasn't an automatic action performed by the game when you picked up the book. You as a player had to actually perform the action - or sell the book if you didn't want it.

KorvinStarmast

12:53 PM

@Derpy we seem to be in violent agreement. :)

Derpy

@KorvinStarmast the way you wrote it before made me think you meant that the book was activated and added to the player spells by the sole act of picking it up ^_^'

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri ah yeah I'd be interested if you want to. I don't want you to be forced to talk about something upsetting to you if against your will of course.

kviiri

@Rubiksmoose It's not really disturbing in any way, just developments that I fear might have worse consequences in a few years. (--> NAB)

The Oracle

1:47 PM

0

Q: What is the user policy for up-voting on comments, incorporating the advice of the comment, and then flagging the comment as no longer needed?

While answering questions I frequently receive comments, a fraction of these are helpful and offer advice that I incorporate into my answers. Do I up-vote these comments and then flag them for deletion as the advice is now live in the answer? Further, do I wait for my comment to get flagged aft...

discussion comments badges

Someone_Evil

1:58 PM

Could I get a couple of more experience eyes on this question with regards to the recent change? (both the OP and I are unsure on best procedure)

Rubiksmoose

@Someone_Evil So generally, we revert the change in cases like these. It looks like yours is the only answer that it would change though and I do agree the question is better for the change proposed.

If you were willing to edit the first part of your answer out then I think the question change might be a net gain.

But by default we would revert the change. Its just unfortunate in cases like this where the mistake might overshadow the core part of the question.

Someone_Evil

Sure, though I will need to rework a lot of my answer. I should maybe have pointed out the flaw of the example as a comment

Carcer

The problem there kind of is that after the question change, most of SE's answer is effectively just restating the question, and the meaningful bit is simply "yeah, it's dumb, D&D's not good at physics"

Rubiksmoose

But the question change was made to reflect the real question. We generally discourage people from doing this, but it seems like there is decent cause here.

Carcer

yeah

Rubiksmoose

2:04 PM

Just my opinion though.

Carcer

no, you're right, the question change gets at the actual point of the question and it is better for it

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer And I think that this is mainly caused by the fact that it might be the only real response available for the answer as it was intended to be asked.

Carcer

but I have sympathy for SE

Rubiksmoose

Me too don't get me wrong.

Carcer

"My first answer turned into the moon." "That's rough, buddy."

Rubiksmoose

2:06 PM

@Carcer hahaha

@Someone_Evil That being said, It looks like you can just remove the first section and slightly reword or remove the first sentence to your second section to my eyes.

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: Does the 500 feet falling cap apply per fall, or per turn?

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything has this to say about the rate of falling : The rule for falling assumes that a creature immediately drops the entire distance when it falls. But what if a creature is at a high altitude when it falls, perhaps on the back of a griffon or on board an airship? Rea...

dnd-5e optional-rules falling

Someone_Evil

The meta discussion linked by Akixkisu in the comments is from 2016 and differs (in my experience) with current practice. Is it time to revisit that policy?

Rubiksmoose

@Someone_Evil It might be worth asking a new meta referencing those old posts and the most recent one about invalidating answer to see if you can get some cohesive answer that ties them all together in a logical way (or makes a case for newer rulings superseding the older ones).

I'll admit that I am often confused about where the line is when we need to revert and when we request answers to change.

I'm actually not finding the meta I thought we had on questions changing in response to answers.

Someone_Evil

2:23 PM

There is one on homebrew (as they have more of a problem with this) and one on "Completely changeing the question"

Rubiksmoose

For me that line is as you pointed out: are they asking a completely new question. And often that distinction differs based on perspective and what an author intends to ask.

Someone_Evil

That why tried to be soft about the change (i.e. be careful rather than don't). The fundamental question didn't change, but the example did and so answers (which address the example) would need to be changed

Rubiksmoose

@Someone_Evil I think the way you went about it was great :) And it also reflects my view of how that "policy" such that it is works here.

Of note is that most often these kinds of corrections happen in questions that are based on a theoretical situation. Which is another point in favor of our preference for questions based in problems that have actually occurred around a table.

Rubiksmoose

3:14 PM

6d6

Dice Service

•

Carcer

I'm still happy with questions which are purely about observed consequences of the rules system

Rubiksmoose

oh me too. I love asnwering them.

d6

Dice Service

•

Carcer

I think it is definitely true that if you are trying to solve an actual problem you experience, you are much better off posting about the actual problem you experienced rather than forming a more abstract version

Hot RPG Questions

3:16 PM

5

Q: How to compare d20+x with advantage to d20+y without advantage (x < y)

I roll a d20. If I have a choice between d20+x with advantage, or d20+y without advantage, what choice do I make to maximise the result? What are the values of x and y where the choice changes (if it changes at all)? Assuming x < y.

dnd-5e statistics advantage-and-disadvantage

Someone_Evil

I like them too, the problem was that the example used didn't technically cause the 'bug' of interest.

Carcer

but sometimes you're honestly just like "Hang on, do these rules really mean that enlarged fighters should be crushed by their own armour?"

which remains my favourite 5e oddity and I have plans to use it to comic effect someday.

Someone_Evil

@Carcer On what basis should they be?

Carcer

hohoho

okay, so

the effect of Enlarge on objects and creatures is to double all their dimensions, which of course has the result of increasing their weight by x8, which is stated in the spell

if you Enlarge a creature, that also increases its size category one step, and applies the effect of enlargement to all its carried gear

increasing from medium to large doubles your carrying capacity

... but all your gear now weighs eight times as much as it did before

so you're effectively carrying a load four times heavier than you were before being enlarged, which for even a very strong humanoid wearing heavy armour is quite liable to put you over your threshold for carrying capacity

Someone_Evil

ah... thats gonna be unfun for Fighters without the Powerful Build feature

MikeQ

3:26 PM

Jan 10 at 18:17, by MikeQ

@Carcer [shakes fist at square-cube law]

KorvinStarmast

We are back to "D&D is not a physics emulator" so the unfun need not happen at all.

Carcer

exqueese me

if your definition of fun doesn't include "enlarged beefcake can't actually carry his own gear" then I'm not sure we can agree on anything

doppelgreener

i've read a Jhonen Vasquez comic like this

Carcer

yes, Enlarge explicitly says weight increases by x8. It doesn't explicitly say your carrying capacity increases, though, I have assumed that is implied by being a larger size category, given the rules for size category and carrying capacity

anyway, I prefer to think of it as either being useful for comic effect or opening up fascinating new tactical options

Someone_Evil

@KorvinStarmast Don't get me wrong, I would not enforce that at the table, but RAW it should

MikeQ

3:32 PM

@Carcer This could mean an enlarged creature would have trouble moving, even without the armor

Carcer

you could blunt the advance of enemy warriors in a chokepoint for instance by enlarging a heavily armoured foe, so now he's in the way of all the others and also he can't move

@MikeQ nah, what is implicit in the rules is that you can always carry the weight of your own person

carrying capacity has no modifier for how bloated or gaunt you are personally

but honestly I mostly planned to do it for comic effect sometime by having an enemy warrior get enlarged by an ally and ibasically immediately fall over and be stuck like a turtle

if I had players who were about to do it in a tense dramatic scene where the comedy would absolutely be inappropriate I would tell them in advance that that would be the result

Rubiksmoose

Alright so this is entertaining (but completely different from current topic). The roll I made above were for the setup to my Honey Heist game. Where the PCs are a bunch of bears pretending to be humans by wearing hats trying to rob honey from Honey Con 2019. And apparently Honey Con 2019 is going to be held in an actively dangerous truck convoy.

Carcer

excellent

Rubiksmoose

right? I love it. I was debating about if I would stick with my roll or just choose things that seemed funny, but I love this setup so much.

Someone_Evil

@Rubiksmoose I would normally associate the phrase 'actively dangerous' with volcanoes rather than traffic; how hot is this honey?

Rubiksmoose

3:37 PM

I have no idea how a con is held in a convoy, but I love it and will love seeing how we make it work

@Someone_Evil volcano is not one of the options, but in retrospect, it really needs to be lol

MikeQ

@Rubiksmoose I've been meaning to run a one-shot using this system. How much material would you prepare for your game?

Rubiksmoose

@MikeQ So far: none. I did the rolls ahead of time so I could mull over some of the con and world-building, but I'm hoping the group and I can mostly improv our way through this (which seems to be the way it was intended to be run?)

Sorry about that, didn't mean to kill the convo XD

@Someone_Evil Technically it won't be hot until after they steal it ;)

doppelgreener

[casts Raise Dead, which still sounds like the kind of spell that ought to be creating zombies]

Rubiksmoose

@doppelgreener it 100% does

Someone_Evil

On the back of the volcano association I love the idea of super-heated honey (which sounds difficult to transport and/or steal)

Rubiksmoose

3:48 PM

@Someone_Evil I do too actually

Someone_Evil

Alternatively: LAVA BEES!

Rubiksmoose

jots down for future sessions

Carcer

yeah Honey Heist is very much a start from scratch roll it all randomly affair

obviously you don't have to and you can plan something, but that's not what the game's design is trying to do

Rubiksmoose

This will be very interesting because it will be the most improv storytelling I've ever done.

Someone_Evil

I'd also love to do more improvised storytelling, unfortunately it's a lot harder if you haven't got someone to bounce off-of and my players aren't quite up for it

Rubiksmoose

3:53 PM

@Someone_Evil I'm wondering about that myself. I don't consider myself at all great at improvising things, and my players aren't really used to doing it either

Someone_Evil

I've found awarding Inspiration for contributions/suggestion is a great help, but it takes time to learn such a skill (especially if you're not actively/consciously trying)

MikeQ

Similar here, I've found that most of my regular nerd circles aren't great with open-ended improv. Some structure is needed. Otherwise they either disengage (shut down because they want to know "what to do") or completely go bonkers with the freedom and make things unmanageable

Rubiksmoose

But I'm going to set expectations at the beginning asking them to try to be more active storytellers and to help build things themselves instead of waiting for the DM to do so.

doppelgreener

@Rubiksmoose not to be confused with Raise Bread, which doesn't create zombies

Someone_Evil

This answer to the falling question includes the phrase 'ledges and warlocks' which sounds like the D&D equivalent of shoots/snakes and ladders

Rubiksmoose

4:01 PM

@doppelgreener Maybe zombie yeast? After all they hunger for graiiiiins.

^not original

Carcer

Amish can cast Raise Shed as a ritual

5

thankyou for your support whoever starred that it means a lot to me

Xirema

4:21 PM

@doppelgreener I feel like I need to work on my Breadcasting ability score, since it always seems like a 50:50 shot whether my bread properly rises or not...

MikeQ

You need more yeast, it's a material component for the Raise Bread spell

Carcer

I have a feat that gives me more yeast!

Xirema

@MikeQ Oh speaking of thINGS I HAVE STRONG OPINIONS ON: MEASURING YEAST.

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema I'd love for my ratio to be that high :(

Carcer

No, sorry, misremembered. I have yeast in my feet.

Xirema

4:24 PM

Every single packet says "1/4oz" is the amount of yeast contained in the packet.

But when I buy jars of Yeast, and check online, everyone says "2+1/4tsp" of yeast is the equivalent amount.

doppelgreener

@Carcer There's a feat for that

Xirema

1/4oz is NOT 2+1/4tsp!

This cannot be allowed to stand, and I am outraged.

doppelgreener

@Xirema what is it equal to?

Xirema

@doppelgreener 1+1/2tsp. 3tsp to a Tbsp, 2Tbsp to 1oz.

So now I have no idea how much yeast I should be using in my bread.

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema this topic really gets a rise out of you huh?

Xirema

4:27 PM

@Rubiksmoose This has been aggravating me for years. Ever since I bulk-bought like a cup of yeast at Costco.

MikeQ

Feb 8 at 21:13, by MikeQ

@ColinGross Follow-up question: Can you use necromancy to create undead yeast from bread/beer?

Someone_Evil

If it is any help ounces vary between 100 and 27.4 g depending on definition. (fluid ounces is 28.4 or 29.6 mL depending)

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema that is really frustrating. I wonder why it keeps getting repeated?

ACuriousMind

@Xirema Yeast isn't yeast. Maybe the yeast in the packet is in a different (more active) form so that the equivalent amount of "jar yeast" is not simply the same by mass?

MikeQ

You can change the volume and mass by casting yeast shape

Xirema

4:30 PM

@ACuriousMind I mean, maybe? But you'd think someone would have said something to that effect, like "if you use jarred yeast, you need to increase the amount because blah blah blah old yeast" or whatever.

doppelgreener

@MikeQ It might not pass foodworthy tests

CollinB

i join the chat to the words, "Yeast isn't yeast"

MikeQ

Lowercase "yeast" is different from the "Yeast" action

CollinB

ah, i see

ACuriousMind

@MikeQ ...I now wonder why bakers aren't called yeast masters

2

Someone_Evil

4:40 PM

@ACuriousMind You mean they aren't!?

CollinB

BREAD RANGERS!!!!

doppelgreener

@ACuriousMind yeastmaster is an old and low quality prestige class that's not worth taking

CollinB

yeastmaster

Xirema

> A Packet of Yeast is a 1/4oz of Yeast, you can't say it's 3/8oz! — TJ "Xirema" Yoshi

MikeQ

@Xirema They're the same because fractions are always rounded down

CollinB

4:43 PM

@MikeQ you can't just round in cooking

Someone_Evil

In my experience a packet of (dry) yeast is 12.5g and every recipe refers simply to a 'packet of yeast', but I do get your frustration

MikeQ

Never tell me the odds

CollinB

that's some crumby math

Xirema

@CollinB Well, you see, when you're baking a single loaf of bread, you round up, but when baking an entire bakery of bread, you round down. To capture this phenomenon, we use a half-yeast-packet.

CollinB

And this is why i don't bake

Someone_Evil

4:48 PM

Because of weird speed-running references?

CollinB

no, because I hate the effort

MikeQ

@Xirema Once your breadcasting score improves, you can take levels in the Starchmage prestige class

CollinB

ooga-booga where is my yeast

KorvinStarmast

5:03 PM

@Carcer I do not subscribe to the Gotcha-DM-versus-players attitude it takes to get there. It's magic, not physics.

@Carcer have another

@CollinB Then how do we make doughnuts, which are round?

@CollinB I usually bake corn bread or Irish Soda bread. Neither uses yeast. Baking soda/baking powder, avoids the yeast within!

Carcer

@KorvinStarmast well, I and most people I've gamed with would find it hilarious in the right context, but as clarified it isn't something I would spring on anyone if I judged it would actually be detrimental to their enjoyment

KorvinStarmast

@Carcer I suppose it depends a lot on the 'feel' at a given table.

Someone_Evil

5:21 PM

It a major difference between players using spell effects that didn't quite benefit other players (enjoyable for certain tables) and this spell had a unwritten side-effect which is detrimental to the target.

Example of the former: using gust of wind and accidentally also pushing the Fighter

Stackstuck

Meanwhile: Why can't you create tags on mobile anyway

Sdjz

@Stackstuck Are you using the full version of the site? (changeable on the footer by clicking "full site")

Xirema

F--- I really want some fresh Italian bread right now....

Someone_Evil

5:36 PM

Ok, it's clear 5e needs some better falling rules so here goes: A creature that should fall at the end of it's turn descends 25 feet at the end of each initiative step. A creature that started its last turn falling descends 50 feet instead. This gives 500/1000 feet per round and smooths it out over time. I challenge anyone to playtest it.

Sdjz

@Someone_Evil What's an initiative step?

Someone_Evil

20 to 1 (and all the numbers between). Do the rules technically call them counts?

Xirema

@Sdjz @Someone_Evil The term I've seen used is "Initiative Count".

Used for Lair Actions for certain boss creatures, and also referenced obliquely by some of the Variant Initiative rules.

Sdjz

oh ok but what about people with initiative over 20?

Someone_Evil

@Sdjz Try not to fall

Rubiksmoose

5:46 PM

@Someone_Evil I find this to also be generally good advice

Someone_Evil

I guess saying "at each initiative count between 20 and 1" might be more in keeping with rules/less ambiguous

As an informal survey: How often does falling come up in your games?

Rubiksmoose

Not very often. Maybe once a month. And I don't think I've ever had to adjudicate something approaching or near 500 feet

CollinB

enough that it's annoying to deal with

we've had a couple of thousand foot drops

Someone_Evil

I've only had to deal with it once myself. Wizard using dimension door to escape a wurm which had engulfed her and burrowed into the ground.

Stackstuck

@Sdjz I switched to "Request desktop site" and it worked, but it's a weird restriction to have in the first place.

Someone_Evil

6:00 PM

Not being able to make custom tags (which is rarely done anyway) makes it easier to not do it accidentally and to select existing tags

nitsua60

@Someone_Evil Once every 20 sessions, ballpark.

CollinB

once every 4 on average

V2Blast

6:51 PM

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/age-of-wonders-iii
Age of Wonders III is free on the Humble Store for the next 2 days.

7 months after I originally signed up for a Princes of the Apocalypse campaign, after months of postponements, it has finally been announced that the campaign is not happening... sigh

Mark Wells

7:08 PM

@Someone_Evil I'd go with this: "A creature may fall at most 25 feet during its turn. If it's still falling, it falls 500 feet or the entire remaining distance, whichever is less, between the end of that turn and the end of its next turn. If it ever matters where in that 500-foot range the creature is located, the current player chooses."

Someone_Evil

@MarkWells That might easily give a chronology issue (one chooseing a location to interact with a falling creature and then a later creature chooses a previous point)

Though I really like the idea

Mark Wells

@Someone_Evil The more precise way to handle that would be that nobody can interact with a falling creature except by readying an action, and then at the end of its turn it moves through all of the intervening space and all the readied actions resolve in order.

But that's perilously close to "everyone declares their actions in advance, then we resolve them in order by who should get to go first", which is not a very 5e way to do it.

Someone_Evil

The problem with your first proposal is that you are retrofitting a position which isn't very 5e either

Mark Wells

7:36 PM

Alternatively, "the current player chooses a position below the creature's last known position" :)

Rubiksmoose

7:53 PM

@V2Blast :(

BESW

Last day: Kickstarter: Sundown. A rules-light tabletop roleplaying game set in a pre-industrial transhumanist frontier. Think Cyberpunk goes Wild West.

V2Blast

8:11 PM

New bundle types are now available on D&D Beyond! In addition to the Legendary Bundle, you have the Sourcebook Bundle and Adventure Bundle options to provide more flexibility in how you unlock content on DDB. Check them out today! https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace

Tweeted by DnDBeyond on May 9, 2019 at 8:04 PM

BESW

8:33 PM

@V2Blast [chokes on prices]

Sometimes I forget just how much the D&D experience is presented as a curated lifestyle brand.

user15026

@V2Blast what is this and why is it so many money

V2Blast

yeah, D&D books are expensive

this is cheaper than the MSRP for the physical books

being bundles, they have all the books thrown in - most people won't want them all, but this is for those that do

trogdor

D&D the game that costs a lot XD

user15026

Oh, this is like "get all D&D books in like PDF or whatever"? ooooh boy that's so many money

Sir Cinnamon

8:48 PM

Better than a pdf really, you get a whole web interface for browsing, searching and filtering all the info

(still expensive but it does provide a unique service)

user15026

That's fancy

BESW

Yeah, it's "pay us more money to get access to more entries in our reference website."

Not even 4e was that mercenary.

user15026

9:03 PM

D&D does kinda feel like they're grabbing you by the ankles, tipping you up and shaking you down for your vending machine quarters

BESW

They're owned by Hasbro. They have to prove their franchise is worth the investment of money which could be going into Transformers and My Little Pony.

user15026

ah, okay, that I did not know

BESW

Yeah, in 1997 Wizards of the Coast, known for making Magic: the Gathering, bought TSR, the makers of D&D. Then in 1999 Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast.

user15026

Ah, I didn't know they owned Magic either.

user15026

I am learning so many things today.

trogdor

9:09 PM

@BESW and everyone knows investing in transformers and ponies is a gold mine

Sir Cinnamon

Gotta say, "Tactical Studies Rules" was a bad name and WotC is better

BESW

Hasbro is one of those terrifying companies on the Disney model which just keeps absorbing its competitors while projecting a reassuring family image to its consumer audience.

user15026

@BESW This is what I am realizing, and I am quietly horrified.

trogdor

yeah it's especially scary that they are both so scary and both so focused on kids

BESW

They're Parker Brothers (Monopoly, Cluedo, Risk, Trivial Pursuit), and Milton Bradley (Connect Four, Hero Quest, Twister, Yahtzee).

user15026

9:21 PM

I feel like this is a "secretly they're everyone" situation

trogdor

yes

this

not literally but they own a lot of the stuff

BESW

They also currently have the toys-and-games rights for Star Trek, Power Rangers, Overwatch, and Fortnite.

"We are Hasbro. Lower your shields and surrender your wallets. We will add your nostalgic and contemporary entertainments to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

user15026

Sounds about right.

MikeQ

9:46 PM

Greetings fellow supposed humanoids

user15026

Greetings

trogdor

@BESW wow thanks for that visual really needed that in my life

BESW

Miniman

10:05 PM

@SirCinnamon Except when it inevitably dies, you will have nothing.

trogdor

@BESW XD

Miniman

Also, no offline access.

V2Blast

10:30 PM

@MikeQ I prefer to think of myself as an aberration

user15026

I'mma cyborg!

user15026

(okay kinda sort of not really)

BESW

We're all cyborgs who have dumped most of our memory banks into a cloud server with hand access.

You just happen to also have an implant that increases the effectiveness of your brain-meat.

trogdor

@BESW is this really the definition you are going with, we usually have devices and we use em a lot so we are cyborgs?

I guess I'm a cyborg dragon then

I always knew my dreams would come true

BESW

It's a radical definition, but one I find useful in terms of thinking about accessibility.

trogdor

10:42 PM

fair enough

BESW

All our tools are ways of helping us do things we can't do ourselves, or doing those things more effectively. The difference between "I have a pair of rollerskates" and "I installed wheels in my feet" is functionally minor.

trogdor

I mean, I remember a lot of things in the brain meats, I do access unlimited knowledge on the interwebs

@BESW functionally yeah, but in a few important terms they are still pretty different

BESW

The thing about cell phones as an Internet access tool is, studies have shown they are actively changing the way we use our brains.

trogdor

that's also fair

I won't dispute that one

BESW

We are actually putting things that we used to use our brains for, into the cloud.

trogdor

10:48 PM

I still use my brain meats to remember stuff I read though

that's like the biggest thing I ever used them for anyway XD

BESW

If I had a digital eyeball and a SIM card in my spine which let me check Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha without anybody seeing anything except me zoning out for a few minutes, I'd be a cyborg.

I can do that anyway, the only difference is that people can see what I'm looking at.

trogdor

that's not really the only difference

there is a literal physical difference that unsettles some people

BESW

You're right, I wouldn't be as worried about dropping or losing my eyeball.

trogdor

for me that boils down to not liking the idea of literally sticking something in my spine

BESW

I'd honestly be more okay with sticking something in my spine than with some of the things Google is rearranging in my brainmeats.

trogdor

10:52 PM

I guess to some degree it's a matter of perspective then

I'm used to people trying constantly to change my brain

Ender Look

Just to be sure. (D&D 5e). You can't remove the curse of a magic item, right? Remove curse only break the curse to the targeted creature, not the item itself.

trogdor

the really horrible part would be if they tried to do it more directly

at least in my opinion

But I can definitely see what you mean to some extent

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